A big climbing day up to the Blue Ridge Parkway, leaving Limestone Baptist Park at 8:15 and arriving at the Royal Oaks Cabins on the Blue Ridge Parkway at a place called Love, VA at 6:45pm. Over 7,000 ft. of climbing today, and slow going too!!
As we leave the Baptist park where we camped overnight we are reminded to renew our strength-We did last evening in the pool and at dinner and as we slept. We'll need that strength today!!
After our morning ride of about 25 miles we ride through Lexington after lunch. It seemed a nice and more vibrant town then we have been riding through. 
Two reasons I see for the energy in Lexington is Virginia Military Institute, a small piece shown here and Washington and Lee University. 
My new cycling super hero is Vin. Not to be easily categorized as an east or westbounder on the TransAm route, Vin took a 12 month leave of absence from his job, moved out of his apartment near the Bay Area of San Francisco and started cycling on March 8. He went south to San Diego to get on what's called the "Southern Tier" riding to Florida through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and then Florida. He then turned up the Atlantic coast and road the Atlantic Cost route to Yorktown, VA where the Transamerica Route will take him all the way to Portland. And then he'll ride south to his old home base in the Bay Area to get a new apartment and go back to work. He has over 5,000 miles behind him and over 4,000 to go.
And did you see the size of his load?? I would never do a ride with that much weight but I can't argue with his success. Amazing Vin, I wish him well!!🚴
We had a steady after lunch climb up to Vesuvius from Lexington. We tried to pace ourselves and once again, following a stream bed is a good sign your climb shouldnt be too outlandish. 
Now, with 47 miles behind us we have to get ready for 4 miles of very steep grade to get up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. We stop at the famous Gerties for hydration and energy food to help us with the climb. Now believing we can make it to the Parkway I borrow Gerties phone to have our cabin reserved and a key left under the mat since we'll be there after the manager leaves for the night at 6pm. 
Gerties daughter working the store for Gerty while a neighbor visits over her meal. So many days on the road and so many convenience marts, gas stations, diners, cafes, fast food joints, restaurants, motels, cabins, camp sites and church cycling hostels. I still love them and the people but I'm starting to think about being back in my own wonderful home every now and then. 🏡
After an hour and 20 minutes from leaving Gerties we finally arrive at the Blue Ridge Parkway!! I averaged about 3.5 mph up the steep grade and we still had to stop and rest our legs/catch our breath about 6 times. 
Just for another perspective, on the far left of this elevation profile is Buchanan where we started today. Just right of the middle is Vesuvius and just to the right of that is the steep clump up 1,800 ft to the parkway. I've been staring at this climb for days. We have had similar climbs in eastern Kentucky and western Virginia but this climb today had been looming as a threat or at least a worry for me for the last 4 days for some reason. Some people had said this would be the toughest climb, including a nice guy at a church in Vesuvius who hailed us to caution us about the road and say it wasn't too late to turn back!! I had agonized about stopping for the night below Vesuvius and taking the climb early the next day when we were fresh and the day cooler but that raised schedule issues. The lighter effort days leading up to today were about trying to restore some strength back into our legs so we could conquer this climb. In the end, we just did it. It was hard and we had to rest a few times but now, the mountains of the Appalachians are behind us. It is literally now almost all downhill to the coastal plains. At least that is what I am telling myself!!
John got this great shot of me passing under the Blue Ridge Parkway on VA 56 before turning left and actually being on the famous scenic byway. We were almost euphoric at this point. 
Anticlimatically we still had some more climbing to do after we got on th BR Parkway!! But the grades were much more reasonable. 
Almost the highest spot we rode on the parkway and I believe the highest we've been on the trip.
Beautiful long views from the Blue Ridge and excellent road with very light traffic.
Finally arriving at our cabin for the evening at the Royal Oaks Cabins. In the thick of the woods with nothing else nearby. But it's a bed and a shower for the night and we were ready for it! 🚿. Clearly the sign indicates they like to keep us bikers seperate from the upscale customers!
Eating from our panniers we had dehydrated backpacking Chili Mac I have been carrying since Day 1 as emergency back up food, John's instant potatoes for the same purpose, yesterday's leftover bread and some cheese and wine John bought before the camp store closed. We used my backpacking stove to boil the water in a few minutes and had a nice dinner on the deck before the mosquitos became too aggressive. Now we rest and tomorrow we'll start moving easterly and down hill to Charlottesville to meet Angela and take a day off on Thursday. I think we deserve it!
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